Reflection

Oh boy, the end of the year, a time to move on. But what I have learned in this class I will take with me for the rest of my days if I can remember it. over the semester, we learned how to deal with ads with the aspects of a critical thinker. We also learned how to take in media messaging from the news and other sources and interpret the messages put out by them which influence society. We learned what cool was through videos and also learned how companies ruin that sense of cool by pouncing on it and killing it. I think this class has made me conscious of my media usage, but I choose to do nothing about it because it makes dopamine and I like dopamine. It impacts my life extremely as it does everyone in this generation. I feel like I constantly am wanting to be on my phone especially when doing homework. I think that I have always been subconsciously aware of my media decisions because whenever I watch ads now, I can instantly tell their pitch. So I guess I can say that I have gotten a bit more media literate. I am also to translate those ideas into words that my parents understand because they don’t get it at first. My parents are, however, educated consumers because they know what they need and what they don’t need. I think that rubbed off on me. This is called being an educated consumer. Being an educated consumer is extremely important because we, the people, decide how to spend our money and keep these businesses above water. We also have the ability to destroy these companies by boycotting them. I think that by keeping this log, I was able to pay attention to the media and study what advertisers are doing to attract new viewers and consumers and that was very helpful in me developing a sense of what is happening in the world. I also believed that this helped contradict the media blog about us not being attracted to the media and losing our focus of the companies showing us their products with flashing lights and different appeals.

Manscaped, an atrocity of a mens self-care product

Recently, I was watching youtube and I came across an ad for a product called manscaped. This is an electric shaver that uses an appeal to call men strong or powerful if they use the product. They also sexualize women if they are used to sponsor the product. Men who get sponsored by the product are usually more alpha-looking too as being described as a leader of a frat or someone who works out a lot, fitting the male stereotype presented by the media.

In this ad, they make the actor male and use the fact that he has gelled up hair and a beard to sell the product to other people so they can be "as fresh" as the actor who clearly got plastic surgery to do something to his body. The advertisers clearly used this actor as a way to get to more viewers.

Grove Collaborative, the reminder of patriarchy?

Recently, I was watching TV with my family and I saw this ad about cleaning supplies. The first thing that I noticed was that the people being interviewed were all women which totally supports patriarchy and the stereotype that women have to clean everything.

I think in a way this ad is assuming that the people watching NBC are families that are upper to lower middle class. This means that if we are following stereotypes, the mom is a stay at home that cleans and the dad works to provide for the family. I think that if a single mother would watch this, the ad would not appeal to her at all unlike the middle-class family because the mom would relate to the people in the ad. I think that the people behind this ad are all male and are sending it because they know that if they follow those stereotypes, they will earn more money from people believing they are true. This stereotype relates a lot to Missrepresentation, a documentary we watched in zero period because the women are not successful and they aren't shown as having jobs. They instead only clean the house and act blown away by cleaning products instead of thinking for themselves.

Trumps impeachment and what that means for the US

What now?

On December 18th, the house decided to call for the impeachment of the president of the United States, Donald Trump. After a long day of debating reasons to impeach, the house of representatives successfully voted on impeaching trump. For the process to go through though, the senate has to approve of it and because of the senate being composed of mostly republicans and rich white people, the impeachment is probably not going to pass.

 That means that until the next election and the 2020-2024 presidency, we will have a man who will make our name worse with our neighbouring countries but we might also have more business or defence because of him. Who knows? I certainly cannot predict the future and I don't even know if my opinion on the future or the president is right but I know we will have to pick up some type of mess after these next 5 years.

Xbox Series X, what are people thinking of it?

Xbox's Advertising

Recently, I saw a new Xbox ad which I guess is supposed to make me want to buy it. This new design of an Xbox is very different and as a result, is the new "cool" thing even though it isn't said, they are trying to make it cool. They succeed in making people want to buy this game system by going over the landscape in this aura of light that makes everything it touches graphically enhanced. This would make me want to buy it if I cared because poor graphic design in many video games is a huge flaw. The ad also hints at a new Halo game which would make more people want to buy it since the game appeals to a new set of people (halo fans). I also like the design of the controller so that it could appeal to a new audience which is of course me. I don't know what the future holds for this console. Whether it will be a huge success or not but it seems to have been advertised well enough to reach to many target markets which will hopefully create the ongoing success of an industry.

Ads: What are their future with grabbing peoples attention?

In the world we live in, there is no doubt that everywhere we look, something is being advertised. "BOLD!" "TREAT YOURSELF!" But have you ever caught yourself tuning out those video montages of the words "NEW" in black in white? It is the best experience ever. I think that with the coming of the digital age, we will develop a tolerance for ads and not be distracted by them anymore. But what would that make places like times square for locals?

20 years from now, we could be locals to time square and just be able to tune out the insanely annoying mascots and flashing lights and what could that mean for our society? could it mean an end to corporate companies? Or a new evolution to advertisements.

Google Stadia, Cop or Flop?

So I was searching the internet and I came across an ad that caught my attention because of how much the ad tried to connect with the "oppression" that gamers have about having to keep track of so many games. "Why do we have to have boxes." "Its time to end the era of a console in a box" "INTRODUCING THE GOOGLE STADIA WHERE YOU DONT HAVE TO DOWNLOAD OR HAVE A POWERFUL CONSOLE TO GAME!" I think google captivates its viewers with the same ad techniques used in the movie that we watched in zero period where they use very "poppy" colors to captivate the viewer. I personally was at attention when they would put NO and then switch to a textbox of the words boxes and "no limits" which makes the viewer feel special. They also try to make it sound better by calling gaming a place which makes it sound not as bad because if you call it gaming, it sounds like a nerdy word which doesn't make you feel good.

Slayer:The end of the Road and a Path to Hell

The end of an Era

Recently, notoriously satanic metal band, Slayer, had announced their final tour which they labeled THE FINAL CAMPAIGN which is really badass in my opinion. The band took their last world tour and as of right now, have one show left and it goes down in their home town, Los Angeles.

I am really sad to see one of the best (in my opinion) metal bands go away into retirement.

I was lucky enough to go see them before they were gone and along with them, I saw Primus and Pantera which are two bands that won't stick around much longer because of how old they are. It's sad to think that all 90s bands won't be around much longer because either they will get permanent tendinitis or they will die of old age. In 20 years, this music will be equivalent to Led Zeplin which is interesting to think about. This pyromaniacal, crazy fast, satanic band was one of the best of its kind and one of the only kinds of bands that pushed the boundary on music and had it turn out well for them. This is something seriously important to think about. If you have an idea, do NOT be afraid to express it even if it sounds lame at first.

FINAL CAMPAIGN PHOTOS

Thoughts on The Mandalorian *SPOILERS*

The Mandalorian: What is it?

From the mercenary-infested planet of Mandalore, a mystery protagonist arises jumping from planet to planet. TO BE CLEAR THIS IS NOT A BOBA FETT ORIGIN STORY. This is a new character that is added to the canon universe of star wars. This film takes place after Return of the Jedi and comes before The Force Awakens so we can expect this character to appear in the Rise of Skywalker which comes out on December 20th. More origin story here. Mando and his newly found child (which is the same species as Yoda) travel the galaxy to hide out from the Galactic Empire. 

The empire, as well as the Mandalorian's old guild, are hunting him because of the child's rarity as a creature. The child is actually 50 years old too but the species age very slowly. Keep in mind Yoda died at like 950 years old. The show is fairly new so there is much yet to come and I highly anticipate the success of this series. Also, the child (baby Yoda) is so cute that it has the whole internet raving over this show.

OPINION:

Although the Mandalorian is harsh to the little fella, I think they will turn out ok because the show would not be created unless it would lead up to something big like the end of an over 40-year saga.

welcome to my blog/opinion and relationship with technology

Here you will find my opinions on certain articles, videos, opinions, trends, etc.
I will also start posting weekly recommended songs and maybe some originals. :)

My current view on the media is somewhat high. What I mean from that is that I value the internet for many purposes, but not all of them. I HIGHLY value communication through the internet because I probably have the grades I do with it. Not because I ask for answers on homework, but because I get to share my ideas and get feedback from it. I also value the idea of the internet that you can put anything on the internet and it is a place to express yourself and find others like you. This gives room for creativity and improvement in your field of interest. The internet also has everything you will ever need information wise. So in conclusion, I guess I do value the internet but I feel like I shouldn't because there are also very bad things on the internet that can affect me negatively. I choose to stay away from those things.